Evan Macy: Donald Trump is giving golf a bad name

When you type the words “Donald Trump golf” into google, the first thing that comes up isn’t Trump’s official website touting his 17 golf courses. It’s a website called “Trump Golf Count.”

The unofficial count has Trump at 45 visits to his golf courses in his first 199 days in office — not including the 17-day vacation he is embarking on in New Jersey (Barack Obama played 12 times in this span back in 2009).

Through all of the media slog, Trump and golf have become synomous in the social media era. It’s a terrible thing for golf.

One of the main tenants of the game are the many lessons it teaches the people who play it.

Honesty

Golf is a game of rules. And the only way the game can be respected and played the right way is for a person to actually play the game the way it’s meant to be played. Golfers are taught to call penalties on themselves. If you lose a ball, you can’t just drop one and continue with no consequences. If your ball moves when you are marking it, even if no one sees, it’s a one stroke penalty. Golfers are often lauded for their self-penalizing — sort of a self-sacrifical measure toward maintaining the game’s integrity. It also teaches good character.

Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, it’s hard to deny that Trump and his administration have a casual relationship with the truth and being honest. Just last August, Trump said “I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf.” 

Golf is a game for truth-tellers and not for fibbers.

Social graces

Playing golf can sometimes be a microcasm of society as a whole. Unwritten rules say you should remove your hat and shake your playing partners’ hands after completing a round. They say you shouldn’t walk in someone else’s putting line. You shouldn’t talk while someone else is swinging. Trump has never been one to adhere to unwritten rules or to societal norms. His conduct as President has frustrated politicians on both sides of the aisles.

And he did this:

If you don’t observe any other rule on a golf course, observe this one: don’t drive on the green.

One with nature

Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Accord — a world climate deal that is meant to help combat global warming and keep the environment and nature as close to the stadus quo as possible before natural disasters and other related issues start to become the norm. This seems a bit hypocritical for a man who is on pace to play 321 rounds of golf, outside amongst some of the most beautful scenery in the world over four years.

Doesn’t he want Pebble Beach or Liberty National to survive for the next generation?

Game for the rich?

Trump’s golfing habit has cost taxpayers at least $53 million dollars — a large chunk of change. And the simple fact that Trump does it makes it seem like a game for the rich. Sure, country clubs cost a pretty penny but if you can borrow a friend’s clubs you can get a teetime online for under $20 on a weekday. It is a sport that bends over backwards to welcome the common man.

The landscape of popular culture seems to stigmatize golfing as Trumpian behavior and is tarnishing one of the most beautiful games out there. Take a stand. Don’t let Trump give golf a bad name.